Wrongful death lawsuit blames nursing home’s ‘non-compliance’ with COVID-19 directives

by Jeffrey Nadrich Managing Partner, Nadrich & Cohen, LLP

A lawsuit filed and ongoing in Kane County, Illinois alleges that a woman died from COVID-19-associated complications at Geneva Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Geneva, Illinois because of the nursing home’s “non-compliance” with COVID-19 preventative directives.

The plaintiff represents the deceased woman who, according to the complaint, contracted COVID-19 in late March or early April and died on April 26. The complaint alleges that the nursing home never told the woman’s daughter she was sick with COVID-19 and that the woman died “without the comfort of her family.”

The complaint details a long list of COVID-19 preventative directives which had been announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations.

The nursing home “chose not to undertake reasonable measures to ensure its employees and staff members complied with the COVID-19 preventative directives of the IDPH, CDC, and CMS,” the complaint alleges.

The complaint alleges that the nursing home’s non-compliance with preventative directives included:

• Failing to make sure staff and residents had easy access to adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE)

• Failing to regularly screen staff and residents with procedures such as temperature checks and symptom checklists

• Failing to make sure people socially distance

• Failing to isolate symptomatic residents

• Failing to immediately contact the IDPH and Kane County Health Department regarding symptomatic residents to see if COVID-19 testing was necessary

The complaint states the nursing home failed to do these things “despite the fact that numerous residents began exhibiting symptoms of upper respiratory infections in March 2020.”

A nurse practitioner at the nursing home emailed the daughter of a resident, confirming that resident had a cough and mild pneumonia on April 1, according to the complaint. The complaint states that “despite these symptoms, the resident was not isolated nor was the resident tested for COVID-19.” The resident later died from COVID-19 on May 1, according to the complaint.

The complaint claims the daughter of another resident visited the nursing home and found her mother with a dehydrated look, her mouth covered in sores with food and debris caked in her mouth. A nurse who was asked to provide water to the resident responded the mother wasn’t being given water “because she might aspirate into her lungs,” according to the complaint, which states the facility assumed she was COVID-19 positive yet never isolated or tested for COVID-19. The resident later died from COVID-19 on April 25, according to the complaint.

The complaint claims that the nursing home’s Medical Director confirmed to local reporters that residents at the nursing home with COVID-19 symptoms weren’t presumed to be COVID-19 positive until mid-April, “triggering rampant community spread of the virus amongst the facility’s residents and staff.”

The complaint claims the nursing home reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on April 17, yet failed to procure enough COVID-19 testing kits for its residents until April 23 or 24.

The nursing home had 55 cases and 1 death by April 24, according to the complaint, and 113 cases and 16 deaths by May 1, “representing more than 80% of its residents and staff.”

The complaint seeks to recover damages based on numerous counts, including:

Violation of the Nursing Home Care Act: The complaint claims that the nursing home violated this act by failing to uphold their duty not to abuse or neglect any resident. The complaint defines neglect as “a failure in a facility to provide adequate medical or personal care or maintenance.”

The complaint alleges that the nursing home:

• Failed to provide the deceased woman with adequate care

• Failed to comply with the Control of Communicable Diseases Code

• Failed to isolate symptomatic residents

• Failed to monitor the condition of its residents

• Failed to develop an up-to-date care plan for the deceased woman

• Failed to maintain an active medical record for the deceased woman

• Failed to notify the deceased woman’s family and doctors about condition changes

• Failed to protect the deceased woman from neglect

• Failed to properly train its staff

• Failed to develop and implement adequate COVID-19 control and prevention policies

• Failed to make sure residents and staff had easy access to enough PPE

• Failed to regularly screen residents and staff

• Failed to make sure social distancing occurred

• Failed to contact authorities regarding symptomatic residents

Negligence: The complaint states that the nursing home had a duty to provide care to residents “in accordance with accepted standards of prevailing nursing and medical practice and opinion… and to exercise that degree of care and caution commonly exercised by other members of their profession.”

The complaint argues that the nursing home’s violations of preventative directives and the Nursing Home Care Act constitute a failure to uphold this duty and thus constitute negligence.

Willful and wanton misconduct: The complaint argues that the nursing home engaged in “willful and wanton misconduct” with “an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of” residents.

The complaint argues that, because of this misconduct, the deceased woman suffered physical and emotional trauma, disability and disfigurement, pain and suffering and medical bills before finally passing from COVID-19.

About the author

Jeffrey Nadrich is the managing partner of Nadrich & Cohen, LLP, a California personal injury law firm which represents the loved ones of COVID-19 victims who died due to the negligence of a nursing home.